In Honor of My Father

It’s Father’s Day and I’m blessed to have a lot of wonderful fathers in my life. I had a good father-in-law, but he’s gone as of last year. I’m grateful to him for giving life to his son, Leon, with whom I have chosen to spend the rest of my life.

Then, there’s my awesome son, who is the wonderful daddy to three of the most marvelous little boys on the face of the earth. Of course, his incredible wife makes it easy for him because she’s the best mommy ever.

Then, I have two brothers who have raised some great kids. I am actually enjoying my adult nieces and nephews more than I ever thought possible. I guess I thought they’d always be loud obnoxious little people. Now most of them are parents.

And let me not forget my own dear Leon, who has been a loving step-father to my children for 27 years. He decided years ago that he didn’t like the term “step” father, so since he likes to sit on the porch a lot, my kids call him their “porch father.”

I still get sad thinking about it, but my own precious father moved to the other side of eternity 28 years ago. He’s missed knowing most of this “tribe” that he helped to start. There are now 13 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and more due to be born this year. Including spouses and some “extra” kids that we all claim, there are more than 50 in our tribe.
Daddy would have loved it.

For several years after he died, I would buy special cards for him on Father’s Day, and just put them in the drawer and enjoyed what I would have said had he been here.

Here’s what my father gave to me:

An incredible confidence that I could do anything I wanted and do it well.

A knowledge that I was loved unconditionally every day of my life (my mother carried this on until her own death in 2014).

He passed on to me his love of books and learning. Not long before my mother left us, we siblings were asked by my mother what things that had belonged to daddy we might like to go ahead and take out of the house. All I could think of were his books.

He gave me an example of faithfulness to God and to his family, even when things were difficult and most people would have thrown in the towel.

He taught me to trust.

A love of music (and he paid for years of lessons so I could not only listen, but enjoy playing it for myself).

He demonstrated what it looks like to love one woman and in turn, take care of her and his large family.

A crazy sense of humor.

So, Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. And to those of you who still have your dads here on earth — enjoy!

I was fortunate to have a wonderful father too. I have such fond memories of him. I was lucky enough to work with him for 14 yrs. He took good care of his family. He had 5 daughters and we are all self sufficient and hard working. I miss him.

I wrote about my father today, too. We never quite knew what made him tick until after he died and his one brother gave us some insight into Dad’s war experiences. Too bad no one shared that with us earlier. It explained a lot.

Jeff, Thank you for sharing about your dad. I’m sure that you will be just as good of a dad as your father, who knows…maybe better.
Just the fact that you are thinking about it is evidence that it’s in your heart to be the best dad in the world. Blessings!
Jeanne

Thanks for your comments Jean……reminded me of my dad who passed 12yrs ago. Our family grew up on a dairy farm in Southern, Wisconsin. He couldn’t afford an automatic milking machine so my brothers and I milked our 5 cows by hand, twice a day. Then when I was 15 my dad sold the farm and got a job with the Pennsy RR in Chgo and moved us to southside Chgo where I started HS in a BIG HS and……since it was Sept and Football Season was starting…..an asst coach stopped me in the hall and asked if I’d come out to FB practice that afternoon. I went and discovered that those years of “Bare-Hand” milking gave me SUPER strong arms, hands and FINGERS that allowed me to “Toss A Football 50 + yards with accuracy…..which got me Starting QB spot and a FB Scholarship to Northwestern U and a degree in Electrical Engg……which got me a job with GE Corp.

That’s an awesome story! When my kids were growing up, I had goats…and we all got really good at milking twice a day. I then taught my teenage sister how to milk so we could take vacations. They’re all in their 40s now, and they still get some good laughs from those memories.